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The police & fake encounters - Tip of the iceberg

The Dynamics of Police encounters - Part III

After the recent police encounter in TamilNadu, furious
debates are happening in every media channel; in some of which I also
participated.

Instead
of analysing this specific encounter and getting into shallow arguments, I want
to talk on the larger aspects like -

How does the public view Police?

The ills of Indian police

How equipped / skilled are our police?

Infrastructure & Training

Why encounters happen?

What the public wants and how it can be
realized?

How does the public
view police?

Sheep dog and wolf analogy - According to Geoff Thompson , Police are the 'Sheep dog'. which protects the 'Innocent herd of Sheep". The criminal is akin to the "Wolf"When there is no threat; the sheep hate the presence of the sheep-dog... He
is bossing around and intimidating... The moment the Wolf appears on the scene,
the sheep loudly bleat for the sheep-dog to come to their rescue.
In essence, a citizen recognizes the utility of police only when he is under
threat. Rest of the time he dislikes any interaction with khaki.
In fact the movies takes great delight in
ridiculing police as comical bums or criticizing them as corrupt inhuman
robots. On the other extreme are the Vijaykanth type superhuman police, mouthing punch dialogues while catching bullets fired at him.

Portrayal of police - 2 extremes

Why the public perspective of police is so negatively twisted.

The ills of Indian police

The police to Public
ratio is abysmal in India. On top of it, many police personnel are not utilized for law-enforcement. They
are errand boys to officers' families. One senior officer was telling me he had
18 men working in his house when he was a district SP!
Law and Order police are pulled from regular duty for VIP bandobast. One sees
VIP convoys with scores of policemen apart from the hundreds lining the road. Like
many government departments the resources are used for their own benefit first.
So understaffing is a major issue.Under-staffing pre-supposes over-working.
Most of the police personnel suffer from fatigue. On top of physical fatigue, they suffer from mental stress due to abuse by
superiors, no interaction with family, sense of frustration caused by corruption. Add to it alcohol abuse, lack of fitness programs and exposure to
elements. A recipe for inefficiency!

How equipped /
skilled are our police?

In Tamil a popular observation is " போக்கத்தவனுக்குபோலீஸ்வேலை .. வக்கத்தவனுக்குவாத்தியார்வேலை . “ “Police job is for the troublesome who lack education and skills ...
Teaching job is for the educated without any skills". Even though this
is not completely true, there is some validity when we look at the kind of people
taking up police and teacher jobs.
A police man is not recruited on the basis of IQ, but on physical attributes.
After he joins police the training regimen successfully snuffs out any
proactive intelligence he had; he is conditioned to obey orders whether he
likes it or not. Then he is posted in a station. In a short period he realizes the system is
corrupt and any values he may harbor will only cause friction with his
superiors and colleagues. He faces the choice “Either be part of the system and
claim your share of the spoils or get sidelined to a punishment post."

Infrastructure &
Training

A classic case is Computerization, which is carried out in a crude manner;
without any thoughts on integration or work-flow management. Once I saw 400 new PCs in one office, with only pre-installed MS-office and all operating as
stand-alones!
Most of the officers are afraid of experimenting with technology, because
if their attempt fails they stand accountable. So, putting aside any fresh
initiatives, they opt for no-brainer decisions, which have safe precedents. No
wonder, most of the modernization funds given to police is spent on buying
vehicles and building new offices.
Even if an officer shows pro-active initiative, he may not remain long
enough in that post to see it through. Constant transfers ordered by
short-sighted superiors and political bosses frustrate any attempt to build a
sustainable and efficient process. The replacing officer who comes to the post
will have different ideas and priorities.
The net result is, Indian police's infrastructure, especially technology is
mostly cosmetic and under-utilized.

Talking about training
of recruits, the basic training is out-dated. Once on the job, there are no
systemic attempts to update skills. Even the sporadic training exercises are
perfunctory and the results are not compared with the objectives. It’s mostly
on paper.
Since I try to help the police in un-armed combat and cyber-crime prevention, I
am constantly surprised by the administrative apathy. I poured out my
frustration to a senior officer," Your department has just 2 problems
- too much of power and too much of ignorance. It’s a bad combination! “. He
nodded with a sympathetic smile.

This is the overall
pathetic scenario. Having this in mind let’s look at ‘encounter’ deaths

Why encounters
happen?

Encounters are political decisions. They are not just police decisions.Even if the police want an encounter, it cannot happen without the tacit
approval of the political bosses.I also noticed that police will turn a blind eye and tolerate crimes which
happen in closed rooms, away from the eye of the larger public. They will even
demand a share in the spoils. But when a crime happens in full public glare
threatening their credibility, police swing into action to regain
their image.
The human rights supporters constantly demand the police to leave it to the
judiciary. How naive! An encounter cannot happen without taking into
confidence local judiciary, politicians, community leaders and in many cases even
the media.
A police officer is NOT carrying out an encounter, since he is a
sadomasochistic pervert. He is forced to do that due to various
compulsions, which may be beyond law and order issues. Killing a life in cold
blood is not an easy decision and it is taken reluctantly under extreme duress.
The officer is also putting his career on the block; he knows if the political
bosses are replaced, he will be
the scapegoat.

Rajasthan IG arrested for encounter

What the public wants and how it can be
realized?

The problem for the police is that the criminal is hidden
amongst the public, whom he is protecting. He has to weed the criminal out and
substantiate his actions to the critical scrutiny of media fed public.In contrast the army has an easier job, since the enemy is well identified.
Eliminating an enemy is not subject to constant public debate. Concepts like
patriotism also make army killings actually look good and they are hailed as
'Saviors of the nation.'
The police job is mostly ‘Control’... Not 'offensive". He is expected
to use force with great restraint. They are advised to use force in
proportionate to threat. Who will measure the threat and response in a crisis!

This ideal scenario of a benign police keeping a fatherly eye on the society
can be realized only when all democratic institutions operate without prejudice
- The politician, The Bureaucracy, The Judiciary, The Media and above all the
Public.
One can demand police to stop taking law in their own hands, when the other
pillars of democracy play straight.

…………………………………………………………………Previous posts on this series on police
encounters-

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